I had a friend who I’d known since college, which is a lot longer ago than I would like to think sometimes. We were each other’s maid of honor in our weddings. We drifted apart after our children were born — different times, so we never got the chance to bond further over playdates. When I was diagnosed with cancer some years ago (no fishing for sympathy — I’m seven years cancer free and stronger […]

The truth is we don’t know why this shit happens. In an interview with The Guardian, Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of the ‘cancer memoir’ The Emperor of All Maladies, says, “In a spiritual sense, a positive attitude may help you get through chemotherapy and surgery and radiation and what have you. But a positive mental attitude does not cure cancer—any more than a negative mental attitude causes cancer.” We need to stop blaming cancer patients and […]

“Oh, thanks, but you know I only take medications that have been subjected to rigorous double-blind testing… Really? Well, maybe, but I still kind of prefer science… Yup, I know. But hey, maybe all those chemicals are somehow good for us—maybe that’s why life expectancy goes up every year! Ha ha. Oh, gee, sorry. My wife thought it was funny, and she actually had cancer… What? Sure, some things are sacred, but… Gosh, I’m not […]

Yes, still somber in the wake of the death of Christopher Hitchens this past Thursday. Since I’ve had cancer, I inevitably focus upon any other person diagnosed with the same type of cancer that I had, esophageal cancer. Now in this past week the two people that I knew of who were currently dealing with that particular type of cancer have died, one on Wednesday and Christopher Hitchens on Thursday. [I might add in here […]